Any experienced gardener will be familiar with the different radish growing stages. However, its growing cycle goes on if you fail to harvest it or allow it to grow in the wild, where it is regarded as a weed. A Radish could grow more than a year or two; however, it largely depends on the period they were sown.
Immediately you’ve sown a radish seed; you’ll experience its development into a seedling before four days. The seedling develops for some weeks before growing into an adult plant.
Stages of radish growth start from seed sowing, germination, seedling, root growth, harvesting, and bolting/flowering.
Below, we will explain more about the different growth stages of radish!
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What Is a Radish?
Most people must’ve known that there is such plant as radish, yet don’t know what it truly is.
A radish is quite simply a kind of rapid growing plant, or vegetable to be precise, which is made up of several growing stages ranging from the sowing of seed to its harvesting.
Scientifically called Raphanus Sativus, radish comes from the Cruciferae Brassicaceae family, also known as the mustard family. The term ‘Raphanus’ is a Latin word, gotten from the Greek term ‘Radish,’ which means easily reared.
It is just the right term because of the plant’s ability to adapt and its brief period of planting to the adult stage. Radish is a pest-resistant plant that is very quick to develop into adulthood, as well as among the simplest vegetables to cultivate.
It features delicious roots that are kind of selective about the environs where they grow. Once you’re able to understand the factors influencing the radish at each growth stage, you can be sure of making a healthy harvest.
Different Radish Growing Stages
Understanding the growth stages of radish is very important in its healthy production. You must be able to tell how it starts and how it ends.
For instance, after its seed is sown, it develops into a seedling before 4 to 5 days. Meanwhile, a seedling (sprout) refers to a baby plant produced from a seed.
It is called a baby plant at this stage because it is a lot smaller than the adult plant even though it looks very much alike.
This seedling will keep growing for some weeks before turning into an adult plant. Having said that, what are the different growing stages of radish plants?
Read on to find out the radish growing stages:
Stage 1: Seed Sowing
Before any other stage in the radish growing stage comes the seed sowing stage.
Here, you’re to get the soil for the plant ready by adding aged compost into the soil. You can cultivate radish seeds in your garden during the spring season, around two weeks after the last frost of the season.
By doing that, you are offering them enough time to sprout and grow into adulthood before the weather of the summer periods gets too hot for them.
Give the seeds about ½ an inch deep while sowing the seeds, and make sure you leave a space of about 2 inches between them or sow them close to each other and thin them out later, allowing only the strongest seedlings.
A radish plant proliferates; therefore, planting the seeds in between other slower plants such as cucumbers, peppers, or squash gives you a greater chance of harvest during the period others requires space.
Some commonly known radish plants are champion, cherry Belle, watermelon radish, Icicle, and French breakfast.
Stage 2: Germination
As discussed earlier, a radish plant is a rapidly growing vegetable plant that you should sow during the early spring once the soil clocks 40 degrees Fahrenheit or in late summer.
The best time for radish germination is whenever air temperatures enter the 55 to 75 Fahrenheit mark.
Also, you are to sow the seeds about a half-inch to one inch deep and ensure the soil remains in moist condition until the seeds begin to germinate. It will only take between 5 to 10 days for the seedlings to sprout.
Stage 3: Seeding
Immediately the seedlings start sprouting, thin the ravish plant in such a way that the space between them is at least one inch.
Whenever you thin seedlings that have just two or three leaves, it tends to reduce the issues other nearby plant roots may cause them, as the issues can hinder their development.
At this stage, a radish plant also becomes sensitive to changes in moisture, heat, and weed competition.
Therefore, you have to sort out these issues as soon as possible to enhance better root growth. For a better harvest, make sure you water regularly, control its temperature via shade cover and gently weed to prevent it from affecting the radish roots.
Stage 4: Root Growth
In most gardens, there is always a tendency for radish seeds to grow roots that are ripe for picking in 22 to 70 days after planting. Radishes grown during the winter season often need a longer growing time when compared to that of the spring season.
Again, for the best flavor, spring season-grown radishes are often harvested whenever they produce roots that are one inch across. On the other hand, if you leave them on the ground for too long and the plant gets to the bolting stage, it can cause the root to get woody.
Stage 5: Harvesting
You can harvest a radish plant after four weeks of planting. However, you have to inspect its size by gradually removing some of the soil that hovers around its base or lifting one of the plants to check how huge it has grown before harvesting exercise.
If you grow radish during the spring, for the best flavor, the best time you can harvest it is when it is one inch in diameter. Failure to pull it out of the ground can cause it to get woody or bolt to flower.
You can get each radish out of the ground by holding onto the leaf’s base. Prune the leaves, clean them up well and save them in the crisper part of your refrigerator for at least one week.
Stage 6: Bolting/Flowering
Bolting in a radish plant is a process in which a radish is planted during scorching weather or whenever it remains on the floor for a very long time.
Immediately a radish bolts, it tends to develop a huge stalk that produces white or pink flowers.
These flowers are later pollinated by bees and other insects that pollinate. In the aftermath of its flower pollination comes seed production, with its roots getting inedible immediately after the plants have bolted.
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